Exploring leadership challenges in a primary school for under-privileged working children in Karachi

Primary education, a basic human right, is universally recognized as being among the most critical life chances due to its functional importance. The situation of the country\u27s basic or primary level education, as reflected in high levels of illiteracy and innumeracy, is a matter of great concern. In relation to it, Pakistan has not been able to actualize the much desired targets concerning an increase in primary level enrollment and decrease in drop out rates. Consequently, it is imperative to examine the alternatives to public education through the civil society; the ability of Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to bring about social transformation through grass root mobilization is undoubted. Certainly, many NGOs in the past and present contributed to work as a helping hand to the government in this noble cause. This study was also carried out in one of the schools of an NGO which particularly caters to a category of under-privileged working children. The study discloses that while working for a noble cause, the school leadership faces a number of administrative, academic and resource challenges during its move. However, at the same time, it strategizes its activities in such a way that the challenges are resolved to a great extent. The study also offers some recommendations to the school, the senior management and the school leadership who actually look after the day to day activities of the school. This report also includes the lessons learned from the study. The findings would be not only beneficial for the researcher, but for the educational world which has to give a major contribution to assist these under-privileged working children through researches in other related areas